A Place to Shrug it Off

So you could say I am an A24 fan—kind of. Currently, I am an A24 member (AAA24), but I canceled the membership that will end early next year. This is a paid membership to get discounts, special offers/promotions, quarterly zine, etc. I used to be a bigger fan until the movie Civil War. Honestly, I have no interest in the movie. The general premise sounds interesting, but seeing the divide of the country didn’t seem plausible to me. Maybe once the movie came to a streaming service I had, I would give it a watch to try to understand the thought process of the world building. California and Texas together as a team? Ask anyone from Texas and they would laugh. And I mean, FROM Texas, not just living there. I won’t go any deeper than that about the movie itself since I have not seen it, but the main reason this movie became an issue for me are the posters. Specifically, the ones that came out after the movie already released—the AI generated ones. The posters show nothing related to the mov...

This is my second time watching Uncut Gems. My partner had never seen it, so I obliged to watch as well to make this review.  If you want to see Adam Sandler in a more serious role, definitely give this movie a try. The movie is worth the watch, but if it was never seen, you really wouldn’t be missing much. Once you know the synopsis, what you think will happen is most likely going to happen…except for the ending. The ending itself makes this a positive turnout, but I’ll explain that in a bit. Movie follows Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler), a Jewish-American jeweler in New York City, who is into gambling. The main object of this movie, is a rare black opal that Howard had smuggled in from Ethiopia. At the start of the movie we learn that Howard is in debt with shady people and this opal is the key to his restoration. Even though he’s in debt, Howard continues to gamble—specifically on the NBA, during this intense moment in his life. The movie takes place in the year 2012, to coincide w...

Recently, I beat Cuphead. I have played the game before, but I never got around to finishing. The game wasn’t too hard for me, there was just other games at the time that took my attention away. Previously, I made it to island three and just stopped. I decided to go back and beat the game, but restarting from the beginning. Plus, only really using the default weapon, the peashooter. For those who don’t know the game, Cuphead is a run and gun style game, mostly fighting bosses with a few platforming levels. Not all bosses and levels need to be played to beat the game, but I did so anyway. There are three islands you will need to cross in order to reach the final boss, the Devil. The plot for the game, Cuphead and his brother, Mugman, go to the casino. During a winning streak of craps, the Devil appears and offers a deal that the bothers take. They end up losing and instead of giving up their souls, the Devil says they can collect the soul contracts from other debtors (bosses). The broth...

Going forward I have decided to add review scores to my review posts; the score itself will be placed at the bottom. Why the change? Well, I am going to post my first video game review and now that I am more comfortable with writing out reviews, I decided adding a score would be beneficial. The review score will range from 1 to 10, with half points (0.5) in between. I will not go below 1, because naming anything a zero will most likely not be played or watched to begin with. If this changes, I’ll make the exception. Initially, I thought about maybe a 3 point scale; simply a Good, Average, and Bad scaling. The issue with this, most things would most likely fall in the Average category. Then I thought, okay maybe a 5 point scale. But the issue with this, anything below a 4, people reading may view the review as negative. In the end, I got with my partner and we agreed that a 10 point scale gives more range, especially if including half points.  I will say this now, anything below a 7...

While at my parents, I did get a job. My sibling went off to college and my parents and I were gone from the house for a good chunk of the day. Since Noki had lived with another cat, I didn’t want him to be lonely. November came around and I decided it was time for a new sibling to come into the picture. Plus, this would be a new experience for my parents—my mom was excited. Initially we wanted to get a grey male cat from the shelter, but he was already taken for. Fortunately, a new litter of kittens was brought in and most of them were called for, except one. Introducing Lika (Finnish for dirt)—formerly Buttercup, a small brown tabby. When she first came home, Noki was not pleased. He hissed, but that was normal. She was a new creature in his territory, so he was initially hostile. Soon after, I would see him following her around wherever she went. We had this tall green basket that was empty in the hallway. Randomly, I saw both of them in there just hanging out; a cute bonding moment...

Ever since I was a child, I have been a fan of card games. Yu-Gi-Oh was probably the biggest influence for this, but I also played with a normal deck of cards. Solitaire on the old family computer, simple games like go fish, or even popular ones among friends like ERS (Egyptian Rat Screw). I may have stopped playing Yu-Gi-Oh as I’ve grown up, but the feeling of opening a new pack and collecting cards has remained. Now let’s talk about some card games that speak to me. Currently, my card obsession is the One Piece Card Game. I have played an online version with my friends, but the physical version is mostly for collection purposes. A deck or two may have been made, but I don’t plan to go to any actual tournaments. I am what you call, a casual gamer. Plus, I know if you want to be actually good for tournaments, you have to keep up with the meta, strategies/builds that are optimal for the current gameplay. Honestly, I just want to play with the cards I enjoy. I like finding my own strateg...

Moving back in with my parents was a new experience since I had a plus one with me. Growing up, no pets. This was the first time my family, as the four of us, had a pet. My parents dealt with animals when they were younger, but never had plans to get any for our family. Luckily, they were okay with me bringing my child along. For the first time, we were a family of five. During this time of my life, I was looking for a new job. When I wasn’t applying for jobs, getting ignored or rejected, I was getting Noki accustomed to his new temporary home. From my knowledge, this was his first experience in a two story home. We did live in an apartment that was stationed above a garage, so he’s dealt with stairs, but not two whole floors to explore. I took photos of him in a blue jacket that was originally part of my siblings stuffed panda; looked quite handsome on him. I tried having him wear a bowtie collar, but that ended up with him getting his tooth stuck in it—freaking him out. Got a funny b...

Another day with friends, another attempt to watch an interesting horror film. The concept was intriguing, but the third act execution fell apart for plot reasons. I will go over the movie for this review because I find the story itself interesting, but I don’t think it’s worth the watch for a normal viewer. Previously, I re-watched Cocaine Bear with my friends and this time, we found another horror film centered on an animal—a dog…kind of. Major spoilers ahead, but the concept for this Norwegian film is that two guys live together as roommates, but one of them lives like a dog. He’s dressed up in a terrible furry costume, staying low to the ground at all times. During the film, the non-dog roommate finds a date and introduces her to his pet dog. With a run time of only an hour and sixteen minutes, they don’t add anything extra that isn’t necessary to the plot, but that doesn’t mean everything was well executed. If you have gotten this far and are interested in the movie, give it a wat...

I realized that I have been consuming media in a deeper way. This realization took place during season four of Haikyu!! (volleyball anime). Spoilers, while watching, I picked up on the background music that would play depending on which team was doing well. After looking it up online, the particular song I noticed was the theme for character, Miya Atsumu. Whenever him and his team were on a roll, you would notice the sexy saxaphone riff that played in the background. The riff goes hard and matches the intesity of the match. It’s not only good background music, but noticing when or when not certain music cues play, can give you a hint of what’s to come. During the match, Karasuno (the main team the show follows) were playing well and their theme was playing in the background. When the opposing team gets the ball and makes an excellent play right back at them—their theme does not play, the Karasuno theme keeps going. Immediately, Karasuno blocks fast and get the point, their theme playin...